Feeling the Squeeze: The Surprising Reason Why Cats Get Stuck

Cats are able to squeeze through spaces that seem narrower than they are because cats don't have a rigid collarbone to block their way through nooks and crannies. Once they can get their head and shoulders through, their sleek bodies present no further obstacle. That's if those bodies are sleek, of course. The world is full of fat cats, after all, and for these chubby felines, fitting through tiny holes is not a sure bet. Cats may find themselves in a tight spot because they don't realize they can't fit through. That's because a cat's whiskers — super-sensitive specialized hairs — spread roughly as wide as a cat does, normally allowing the cat to gauge where she can slide through. But they don't grow longer as a cat gets wider, which often leads corpulent cats into sticky situations.